


LAST RITES

by ismellitblue



Series: DEADEST DEAD [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, BAMF Uchiha Sasuke, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-24 08:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16171736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ismellitblue/pseuds/ismellitblue
Summary: Death is the profession of a shinobi-no matter how they try to paint it-Sasuke finds himself going about this in an unusual way.





	LAST RITES

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is brought to you by my inability to kill plot bunnies(they are just too cute!!1).I do not own Naruto.

‘Madara’ stood there and told Sasuke the truth.

He talked of Itachi’s sacrifice and his role in the massacre.He spoke of the deaths of ~~his~~  their family, like it was nothing…and then, at the end of his speech he dangled joining akatsuki like it was the solution to all of Sasuke’s problems.

The younger of the  two Uchiha was so mad he couldn’t see straight,(either that or it was the fact that he was going blind making itself known).He was pretty sure it was the former, but he did concede that maybe a small percentage was his failing sight.

Looking up, he could just make out the blurry swirl of Madara’s mask , the older man’s head was tilted in thought, but his whole demeanor just reeked of smugness. Sasuke watched him walk over to Itachi’s body, and then his voice dropped to something that could almost be called sympathetic…

“Do it for your _brother_ , Akatsuki is your best choice of vengeance against Konoha”He said, turning his frankly sickening orange glad head back to Sasuke.

_The boy is too hot headed Mikoto, why can’t he be calm like Itachi, he behaved like mongrel-we are not Inuzuka._

Sasuke remembered the comparison(one of many) his father had made the night Sasuke had bitten  a particularly obnoxious cousin, for trying to pet him(Sasuke was _not,_ and never would be _duckie-tch_ ).

After that, Sasuke had always tried to fight his impulsiveness, but looking at Madara, with his brother’s body in the same room and the shattered world in his mind where he’d been sure he knew everything about the past, Sasuke just _snapped_.

He was tired, he was drained, and he was legally blind, but somehow, he managed to find a hidden store of chakra.

In one smooth movement he was across the room, his eyes burning as he clutched at Madara’s mask, yanking it off with lightning coated fingers and delivering a swift kick right across the scarred jaw that appeared.

Vaulting off of  the newly unmasked man, Sasuke made three quick deduction.

Number 1-the man was Uchiha, but he was definitely too young to be Madara.

Number 2-The only reason Sasuke was even able to get a hit in was because the man had been too sure of himself to be on guard.

Number 3-If he didn’t do something,Sasuke was most definitely going to die.

The shock bled from the man’s face and his eye spun, morphing as his sharingan gave way to something more ,and before Sasuke could even blink, he felt his own blade run through him.Looking down at his kusanagi and watching his blood pool,Sasuke barely caught the movement at the corner of his eye, but he raised his hand in time to block the kunai.

The fake Madara looked at him. His gaze blank as he twisted the chokuto,making Sasuke cough up blood.Feeling the hand holding the kunai away from his throat begin to weaken Sasuke made one last attempt and channeled electricity through it,letting out a scream as the man’s stiff body jerked the blade in him.

The man fell, but Sasuke wasn’t fooled.Activating his aching eyes, he focused on the man’s red and black cloak, staggering back as it caught fire.

When the air in front of the man began to swirl, the black flames flowing into the void that formed,Sasuke forced himself to move, staggering all the way to Itachi’s corpse.

A few hand seals later, the room was cramped,Aoda, head raised and ready to strike surveying the room.

“Away-far-away from here”He rasped, clutching Itachi’s body.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Aoda’s  _wide_ - _wide_ - _wide_ mouth moving closer.

***

“Sasuke-sama, this is as far as I can take you”

“There is a civilian settlement ahead,I’ll make a commotion, so that you are found”

“The smaller snakes, will stick around to make sure you’re safe, be safe young master”

Something that felt suspiciously like a tongue ran over Sasuke’s face, but when he turned to the touch-despite knowing that his eyes were open-he couldn’t see anything.

The haze of fever and blood loss stopped him from pinpointing exactly what was wrong with that.And with repeated licks from what was most definitely a tongue and soft hisses,Sasuke found himself drifting off again.

***

For the first few days, Sasuke was only aware of gentle hands on him, and soft voices as someone talked to him.

His world was dark, and the air was cold and smelt vaguely of  rot-the sweet smelling kind and whenever Sasuke tried to move his body hurt so bad he couldn’t even protest when the gentle hands held him down and he felt the pin prick of an injection-definitely a civilian,medics would have used chakra.

Every night when the place he was in was completely still, and he couldn’t feel the heat of the sun, the snakes came.They never said anything-not even hissing-but he’d feel them coiling around him,their  head resting on him and they’d share their chakra with him, helping to speed along not only his physical recovery, but also helping his own chakra replenish.

It was the strangest thing-he’d never been particularly close to the snakes, but somehow in those moments,…they felt like kin.

***

The day Sasuke was aware enough to free himself from his soft restraints, his hands were immediately reaching for the bandages around his eyes.

Remembering  the darkness he’d seen when Aoda had first rescued him,Sasuke had made peace with what that meant(he could handle blindness, his shaking hands and heavy breathing had _nothing_ to do with fear).

When he removed the last bandage and found a pale,white haired-gap toothed old woman grinning at him,Sasuke may or may not have let out a scream and reached for a weapon that wasn’t there(though the scream was more of a cough that could be mistaken for a scream-it all depended on who you asked).

***

“My name is Mako”The old woman said, once again showing all the gaps in her mouth proudly.

“Uchiha Sasuke”Had been the reply, and when there’d been no fear, disgust or even worse… _adoration_.Sasuke had felt something in him ease.

“My eyes?”He questioned.

Her smile fell at that, and she looked a bit guilty.

“I found you a few weeks ago,”She explained

“You were crying, bleeding out, and clutching a body”The old woman continued, retelling the whole thing and then she ended it with…

 “Once I realized you were related,I did the transplant-and it took beautifully….I’m sorry I did it without your permission”She said, looking remorseful.

Sasuke was mad about the whole thing, but what really bothered him, was how long he’d been there.

Six weeks, six whole weeks.

“My brother?What did you do with my bother?”Sasuke questioned, unable to keep the desperation and fear out of his voice, his hand clutching her wrist tightly and feeling the frail bones beneath.

She dug her claws into him, and he forced his grip to loosen, feeling his face heat with shame for some reason.

“He’s right beside you”Mako said, and for the first time Sasuke took in where he was.

There were rows and rows of closed metal doors, and on a table furthest from him, lay a small body, covered with a sheet, but still unmistakably a corpse.Even he was on a tray,covered with blankets and surrounded by and array of medical equipment, but it was still very obviously a _morgue_.

“My apologies, I forgot you’re not from here, I should have started with…Hello my name is Mako-I’m a mortician”And she smiled again, no teeth showing and it was somehow one of the scariest things Sasuke had ever seen(which after life with Orochimaru and Kabuto, was saying a lot).

***.

When she pulled out the shelf beside him and left the room,with a gentle

“I gave him your eyes too”Sasuke hadn’t been able to hold himself together anymore.

For the first time since he woke up in hospital room with _no one to call mother_ , _no father_ , _no aunts, uncles and cousins left_ …Sasuke let himself cry.

Just like his first true, sorrow filled cry _it hurt_.He shook and struggled to breathe, his eyes swelling and his throat raw, as he cursed the fake Madara, cursed Konoha,cursed the bloody elders and cursed Itachi too.

But unlike with the others, the curses for Itachi were mixed in with I love _yous_ and I’m _sorries_.

The snakes came then, curling around him beneath the loose pajamas he wore …and just being there.

It was more support than he’d had in a long time.

***

Matsugo was a small village, but because it was down river, a lot of bodies piled up there(most of them shinobi-which explained why the village had a morgue but no hospital or clinic).

“The people here go for medical treatment in the neighboring villages, they mostly come here for patch jobs or when they know it’s too late”The last bit was said with a laugh, and despite himself Sasuke felt his lips quirk (Mako had a very dark sense of humor).

“Would you like me to help prepare your brother’s body?”

***

In the past, Sasuke had sat across from Orochimaru, studiously focused on his scrolls as the sannin butchered people of all ages across form him.Giggling when he came across something he hadn’t  expected.

“Sasuke-kun, bodies are a wonderland, no two are the same-look at her-two hearts, one inside the other-truly amazing”

He’d watched Kabuto stitch limbs from different bodies together and reanimate them.Even in Konoha, he’d watched bodies being released from scrolls-twisted and bent out shape,being stripped and searched, all the secrets they held destroyed before families were allowed to claim their dead(he hadn’t even allowed to bury his family-he’d simply been told they’d been _taken care of_ while he’d been in hospital).

But with Mako,the  whole process was different.

***

Handling his brother’s body was strange at first, but somewhere between grabbing a thread and sealing Itachi’s mouth closed(he even managed to set the expression into a soft smile) and washing the body, Sasuke felt himself settle.

Getting Itachi dressed, Sasuke let instinct take over,injecting bits of chakra into the corpse-making movement easier.

Running his hands over the scars, the ones he remembered, ones he’d given, and nasty looking old ones Sasuke had never seen before.

_Portrait of a Shinobi._

Sasuke thought, with more than a little bitterness.

Looking at his brother’s hollow sunken form,Sasuke did not see the pride of Konoha, the pride of the Uchiha clan.All he saw was a broken man.Bones sticking out,eyes sunken,body scarred…was this really how he wanted to wind up.

Itachi had been a genius, a league above everyone ,Sasuke included( his father and his clan had made sure he never forgot that).But looking at him now, Sasuke saw how that was a disadvantage.

Genius needed a purpose, otherwise it turned on itself-and Itachi’s purpose had been Konoha.

His brother had been born and trained in Konoha, had given his loyalty to the village.When they’d turned on him, treated him like a dog and had him take the fall for them, Itachi had borne it all without complaint.

A dog being killed by its master.

But here was the difference between them.

Sasuke had to put a lot of effort into his thoughts, struggling to grasp things Itachi had understood at a glance, but what Sasuke was- _was a survivor_.

Unlike his brother, if he had an agreement go south, he didn’t stick around because he’d given his word.

If you crossed him, Sasuke crossed you back, burning all bridges and himself if he had to, but he made sure he got his message across.

Perhaps that meant he lacked a moral compass, but looking at his brother, Sasuke found he was glad.

Itachi for all his intelligence had believed in village built on lies, unwilling to see them as anything other than a child that needed a second chance.

Stiffening the body up with a jolt of electricity, Sasuke transferred it to the coffin(he’d made it himself).

“You have a natural talent for this,death becomes you Sasuke”Mako said looking up from her own corpse,she’d been talking him through all of the steps, demonstrating on her own cadaver(though on her side she wasn’t using chakra).

At her praise Sasuke scoffed,certain she was joking, but she just kept giving him a level stare, and Sasuke felt his face heat(he’d never actually had a natural affinity for anything-things usually took him a try or two(thank goodness he didn’t have to do things a million times like the dobe)

Still, the reason for the praise irked him, but he figured with the way his short life had been going, it was only just that the one thing he show true talent for would be handling the dead.

***

That night in the back yard of the funeral home, he held his brother’s funeral.

Used to shinobi passing throught the village(don’t worry kid most of them stay away from here-they only come when they’re ready to smile permanently), Mako hadn’t even bat an eyelid when Sasuke had bathed the casket in black flames.

“Your kind sure do have some nasty stuff up your sleeve huh kid”Mako had said, carefully not drawing attention to the fact that Sasuke’s tears were not due to the smoke.

She sat with him until the  casket turned to ash, and when she went to sleep, his snakes kept him company, keeping vigil with him until the first rays of sunrise lit up the horizon and he extinguished the flames.

***

The unofficial plan was to leave right after Itachi’s funeral, but Sasuke found himself sticking around-to the point where the villagers below knew him as Mako’s grandson.

“They  think you’re dead”Aoda told him one day as the giant snake moved through the caverns beneath the funeral home.

“The impostor, is overly confident of himself-but this buys you time”

“Do you wish to return?”Realizing for the first time that he actually had no idea what he was supposed to do,Sasuke turned to the giant reptile-lost for words.

The snake drew closer, taking Sasuke into its coils.Raya, a king cobra, as well as Kai and Lee, the baby mambas instantly curled up on him.More snakes came as time passed, joinging them, nothing was said-it never was in their little hangouts(which were getting more common as time passed).They just simply grouped together,getting heat from Sasuke and occasionally hissing at each other(or at him).

***

“The dead are aware you know”Mako said to him as he helped drain the blood from young bride, getting ready to suction all the undigested food from her intestines (aah-the joys of embalming).

“That was one of the first thing my grandfather told me when I began helping him here”

“You’re not the first to come here, but you’re the first to have lasted so long”She said taking a pause to sip some tea.

Reaching over the corpse bride, Sasuke grabbed his tomato sandwich and took a bite(compared to the stuff, and places he’d eaten in, in Oto, it was the height of hygiene).

“So the dead can feel my _sunny_ disposition and they decided, I’m worthy of their meat suits?”He asked, not doing much to hide his disbelieving scoff.

“No you idiot, you have calmness about you-kami knows how-but in this line of work it helps”She glanced over at drawer 44 and Sasuke almost lost his appetite.

In it was a little girl.She’d been beaten to the point of being unrecognizable and stuffed in a crate.Some ants had gotten to her before she’d been discovered.Sasuke  had spent hours  removing the bugs, having killed them with lightning first(activating his sharingan, to better remove them had not been fun-she’d taken a lot of damage before her body had given out).

What Mako didn’t know and never would, was that Sasuke had made eye contact with her by accident with his sharingan active…and he’d seen her final moments.

Crying and screaming, and blood-so much blood…and most of all-a face.

In a few hours, the body of the village priest would be found.

A person doing the autopsy would find that he’d been beaten to death by a professional(no visible bruises) and bitten by several snakes.But since Sasuke had made sure that on that day Mako went to her book club meeting he’d handle it- no one would ever know.And after the discovery of his hidden room where he kept his ‘treasures’ ,Sasuke was sure no one would mind even if they doubted his death had been due to a heart attack(which was what Sasuke wouldrule it as).

Looking outside, he mentally picked a spot for her in the flower garden.

She’d fit in well amongst the sunflowers,right next to the little boys who’d drowned a few weeks back.

***

After six months in Matsugo,Sasuke decided to go back.

It wasn’t that he’d had enough of the small civilian settlement(the opposite actually).

In the village, he didn’t hurt as much.He was surrounded by death on a daily basis-but somehow it was the closest to happy he’d been in a long time.But no matter how much he tried, he was still himself, still Sasuke, and Uchiha Sasuke, wasn’t made for happiness.

So in the wee hours of the morning, he packed his light bag, left a note for Mako(let it never be said that goodbyes were his strong point-the whole Sakura and Naruto incident,was proof that he was severely lacking in that department) and set out.

The snakes slithered alongside him as he moved-silent companions.

A little after sunrise, something moved in the trees above him, and having not felt any presence Sasuke was instantly on high alert.

A black shadow flew out of the leaves, cawing lightly and Sasuke pulled his blade back in time to avoid beheading the bird.

The bird, a crow, perched on a branch ahead and looked at him with eyes way too intelligent for a normal bird.

He string of chakra at it, but was not met with the resisting energy of a nin-animal, the bird was just that- a bird.

It cawed again, looked at him, and took flight.Going towards Matsugo and Sasuke continued on his way.A little while later, it came back, its volume much higher than before, and Sasuke paused to glare at it, as it regarded him.

When it landed it stood right in his path and something about the way it held itself, niggled at his memory.The bird drew its wings around itself , and despite the ridiculousness of the thought, Sasuke a lump formed in Sasuke’s throat as he called out

“Nii-san?”The bird gave him a long suffering look and cawed.

Taking flight again it headed back in the direction of Matsugo, and Sasuke found himself following it.

It flew faster and faster until he had to use his speed to keep up, and then some time around noon, the bird flew high.Sasuke watched it go, his head tilting as he followed its ascent.

It went up and up,and up…and then…it disappeared.

No matter how hard Sasuke looked, he couldn’t find it despite the sky being cloudless.

When he looked down,he was at the gates of Matsugo…so he went in.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this.Thank you for reading.Comment, kudo:):):):):).


End file.
